It looks like the money is starting to roll in. Last week, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that
it was issuing a new Industrial Technologies Program for data centers and
service-based telecommunications facilities. According to the DOE, the program’s
purpose is to promote research and development on a variety of different energy
efficiency technologies, in order to “increase the efficiency of IT [information
technology] equipment and software, power systems, and cooling systems,” DOE
said in a statement.” The DOE will
receive funding through Title IV of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
of 2009.
Details of the program can be found here.
According to the DOE, the process will be a competitive
affair between submitted proposals, culminating in financial and/or grant
awards. These awards will require
cost sharing as outlined in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Further details regarding this Funding
Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will be released by the DOE later this month, and
will be available at (www.grants.gov) and at the DOE’s
Industry Interactive Procurement Systems (IIPS) or “e-center” .
Even without the details, some of the criteria contained
regarding this FOA, it’s clear that the program provides a great opportunity for
data and IT centers to improve energy efficiency and expand their onsite power
systems. Specifically, the DOE is
requiring that each proposal address one of the following areas of interest:
* Information
and Communications Technologies Research & Development
for Energy
Efficiency
* Equipment
Hardware and Software
* Cooling
* Power
Supply Efficiency
For
data centers using “new and innovative technologies that are not currently
widely commercial,” those technologies can be included in a proposal as long as
it aids the data center in one of the following areas:
* Information Technology (IT) Optimization
* Energy-efficient electrical power distribution and supply
* Energy-efficient cooling schemes
* Distributed generation or alternative
power technologies
Of
course, for those of us in the onsite power and energy efficiency industry, this
FOA is a goldmine. But let me know
what you think—is the DOE on the right track? Should we be doing more (or less) when
it comes to government funding of energy efficiency technologies and projects?